My Big Fat Fabulous Life is a TLC show in
its second season:
My Big Fat Fabulous Life focuses on Whitney's life, her one-of-a-kind family and her friends. Deep down, she is just an average girl from small town North Carolina trying to find her way in a world that judges people by their size.
Full disclosure – I have never seen the
show. But, I have seen lots of promos for the show while watching “Say Yes to
the Dress.”
It popped into my head yesterday that My Big
Fat Fabulous Life would not have made it to TV if the star had been male
instead of female. At least, I don’t think it would have. Why is that?
One side of me thinks that the show
succeeds because it is a positive confrontation of women’s body image issues. It
is empowering female viewers to feel good about themselves no matter what their
BMI is. People are watching the show because they like the positive message
about self-confidence. This doesn’t work if the star is male because men do
not, at least not in the same number, suffer body image issues in the same way
as women.
The other side of me thinks the show
succeeds because there is a voyeuristic desire in people to watch Whitney
because of her size. The viewing audience is judging her in precisely the ways
that she fears they are. People are watching the show because they are amazed
to watch a woman of Whitney’s side doing all these things. And, large men are
not subject to the same judgement as large women. Viewers don’t have the same
voyeuristic desire to watch big men.
I note that even TLC’s write up above implies
surprise that women who are Whitney’s size are somehow different: “… deep down
she is just an average girl…” This suggests surprise that someone of her size
would be an average girl.
Note that I use the word “succeed” to mean “generate
more revenue than expense.” The show succeeds because it’s still on TLC which suggests
it’s profitable. I make no judgement about that social benefit of the show.
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